The Dallas Cowboys have devalued the safety position for quite some time. The last time this front office selected a college safety with a top-100 pick was in 2013, with J.J. Wilcox in the third round. We’d have to go back to 2002 when they took Roy Williams with the eighth-overall selection out of Oklahoma to find the last time they used a first-round pick on one. Sure, we can argue that Byron Jones was drafted with the notion that he could play safety, but he only spent two of his five seasons in Dallas at the position and played…
Author: Austin Smith
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With the 2021 NFL Draft just over a month away, the Dallas Cowboys will be putting the final touches on the big board over the next several weeks. The Cowboys have addressed several holes on their roster in the opening stages of NFL Free Agency, with affordable veterans on short-term contracts. Doing this allows them to stay true to their board on draft night, as opposed to picking for need, which happens when the roster still has glaring holes come late-April. With that in mind, we will be looking at each position on the Cowboys in this series and where Dallas…
Each of these free agents would add veteran depth to the Dallas Cowboys roster at positions where Dallas is a little light behind the current starter. To check out the past four Free Agency positions, click on the links below: CB | S | DL | LB Cowboys Free Agent Targets Alex Smith, QB Alex Smith is a proven commodity in the NFL and has proven to be a helpful veteran presence to other young quarterbacks on the roster. While quarterbacks like Ryan Fitzpatrick and Andy Dalton have commanded $10M per year on their deals, they are also expected to…
While the Dallas Cowboys free agency needs at linebacker may not be as high as at cornerback, safety or defensive line, it’s still a priority this offseason. The Cowboys have seen some movement in NFL Free Agency so far, with the most relevant departure being linebacker Joe Thomas. With Thomas gone and a shift back to a three-linebacker scheme, Dallas has some needs at the position. The Cowboys have Leighton Vander Esch and Jaylon Smith locked in for the 2021 season at two spots. Here are a handful of linebacker free agents who could fit either the strong side position…
It’s easy to identify the secondary as the unit the Dallas Cowboys are most desperate to improve, thanks to a mediocre 2020 campaign and a good number of players hitting NFL Free Agency. For that reason, I kicked off this series by identifying players at both cornerback and safety. Still, Cowboys fans need no reminder that this run defense was one of the worst in football. That result was a direct correlation to the play of our defensive tackles. Last offseason, the Cowboys front office did a poor job of adding the kind of defensive line free agents that fit…
The Dallas Cowboys must improve their secondary in NFL Free Agency. We already discussed the cornerback free agents, so now let’s turn our attention to the safety position. It’s important to understand that Dan Quinn has not publicly committed to running the scheme he ran in Seattle and Atlanta. However, I would expect Dallas to target players that fit his preferred system. Though there were slight differences in the two schemes’ personnel that he ran at each of his last two stops, it was still a four-man “under” alignment. On the back end, he ran the same Cover 1/Cover 3-heavy…
With NFL Free Agency rapidly approaching, the Dallas Cowboys are preparing for one of the busier times of the offseason. The Cowboys checked their biggest box of the offseason off by signing Dak Prescott to an extension. Next, they followed up with a number of moves to improve their salary cap situation. Now, the Cowboys must address their biggest weakness — defense. In particular, the secondary for Dallas is among the focal points of the offseason. With this in mind, here are five free agent cornerbacks for the Cowboys to target during free agency. Cowboys Cornerback Free Agent Targets Kevin…
On a busy day that has seen the NFL announce the 2021 salary cap at $182M, the league just revealed the recipients for this year’s compensatory draft picks, with Dallas Cowboys receiving four of the 37 selections. America’s Team will receive picks in the third, fourth, fifth and sixth round in the 2021 NFL Draft. The additional draft capital gives them a total of 10 selections this coming April. Cowboys Compensatory Picks No team received more compensatory picks than the Cowboys’ four selections. The selections are likely the result of Dallas losing Byron Jones, Robert Quinn, Randall Cobb and Jeff…